A nip of cheap liquor slipped and fell on the road from the pocket of a man in a ghastly road accident on the night of January 19 near Muthnur village in the agency mandal of Indervelli.
The victim was not only punch drunk, according to eye witnesses, but was carrying an extra bottle home. This small incident, in fact, reveals a trend — a deeper malaise — in the poor and backward tribal belt of old undivided Adilabad district. People going on a binge is common in these parts.
“Alcoholism has invaded the serene innards of the tribal areas,” observed an elder concerned about the phenomenon. “The government is not even lifting a finger to at least close the ‘belt’ shops,” he accused. His hope? Difficulty in liquor availability perhaps would contain consumption to some extent.
The belt shop, for the uninformed, is an illegal liquor vend which is invariably within the reach of tipplers who do not mind shelling out extra money for its easy availability. All the mandal head quarters in the tribal belt have a plethora of such vends. Indervelli, for example, boasts of at least 15 such in all corners.
Big guzzlers
To get an idea of the spread of the malaise, a comparison between top ‘performing’ retail shops in the agency with those in the plains is revealing. Consider this. One centrally located retail shop in Utnoor has recorded a daily sale worth over ₹4 lakh, while the highest daily sale in any shop in Adilabad district headquarters, a comparatively economically-developed plain area, was ₹1.75 lakh on an average, according to sources.
“The high sale figure means that liquor is being lifted by belt shop owners,” admitted a prohibition and excise department official. “We are unable to control the trend as it could mean a dip in income to the government,” he conceded.
Assured, but not done
Following huge protests recently by Adivasi women in Utnoor and elsewhere in Adilabad, the District Collector and Superintendent of Police assured to close down the illegal vends. “We have closed down all such shops under Utnoor excise station following instructions,” claimed district prohibition and excise officer Ravinder Raju.
He, however, revealed that the liquor outlet in Muthnur village, which the top district officials had instructed him to close down till the duration of Nagoba jatara, the tribal fair, continued to operate till the day before the festival began.
